New campus is well and on its way - #lakewoodnews

A new educational facility is nearing completion, bringing with it a world of innovative health care instruction methods and technology to Arvada and the surrounding area.

The Red Rocks Community College Health Campus remains on track to be built and ready for use for this fall's enrollees.

"We're excited to be at the front of health care education with the IPE (Inter-professional education) and the science labs," said Cathy Rock, construction manager for the facility. "This community college has a lot of strengths ... What an opportunity it's going to be for students."

Nine months ago, construction crews broke ground on a $22 million health sciences campus. This addition, which will be connected to the current Red Rocks Arvada campus building, is just three months away from completion.

As of early April, the two-story facility is still on schedule. While major construction of the facility done, crews still have some work to go. Over the next few weeks, crews will be still finishing placing drywall in few areas, have to paint the walls and install cabinets, HVAC, plumbing, electric and fire alarm systems, put in windows, install framing and place glass for the Welcome Center's glass walls, and finish the final third of the high roof and the south side rooftop plaza. The facility will feature four medical and science labs, eight classrooms, a 150-person capacity lecture hall, a cadaver lab, eight small study group rooms, an outdoor terrace, a medical imaging lab, a mock clinic, X-ray labs and more.

The new facility is being built with an "inter-professional education style," in mind: which mimics a professional working space to help prepare students to work with a variety of professionals within their chosen fields. The building is set to be finished by July 18. Following that, the school will transition to the new building. Renovation of the existing class building will turn them into offices and student support services. Both buildings will be completed and ready for the start of the 2016 fall semester in August.

"There's progress every day," said Kim Rein, Red Rocks' director of marketing and communications. "It's exciting."

from Lakewood Sentinel - Latest Stories http://lakewoodsentinel.com/stories/New-campus-is-well-and-on-its-way,211259